The First Blind Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People in Poland

On 7 January, 2020 Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appointed Paweł Wdówik, as a Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People.

Paweł Wdówik received his education in the school for the Blind in Laski and is a graduate in psychology. He is a strong supporter of the American Disabilities Act. Since 1997, he was appointed as a director of the first in Poland office for persons with disabilities at Warsaw University. During his work, he organised the whole system of support provided to students and didactic workers of Warsaw University with disabilities. From 2014 to 2017, he was a member of the main board of Society for the Care of the Blind that manages the school in Laski.

Paweł Wdówik worked as an academic teacher at Maria Grzegorzewska University from 1993 to 2003 and from 2001 to 2010 as a journalist in Polish Catholic radio Józef.

He is the first person with a disability to be a Government Plenipotentiary for disabled people. Along with the nomination to hold this post, he was also appointed to be a Head of the Management board of the State Fund for Rehabilitation for Disabled People.

The Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People supervises execution of tasks specified by the Act of 27 August 1997 on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities.

Being the Secretary of State in the office servicing the minister competent for social security, the Plenipotentiary shall be appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister, on request of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy.

The Plenipotentiary performs his tasks with the aid of the Office of the Plenipotentiary, which forms a separate organizational unit in the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.